Football
Dermot Corrigan, Madrid correspondent 9y

Lionel Messi hailed as 'simply the best' as he aims for Raul UCL goal record

Lionel Messi remains the best player around, according to ex-Barcelona player and current Ajax youth coach Ronald de Boer, as the current Blaugrana star prepares to try and beat his nemesis Cristiano Ronaldo to set a new Champions League top goal-scoring mark.

The competition's record goal scorer is currently former Spain international Raul, who is joining NASL club New York Cosmos for the 2015 season. Raul scored 71 goals in 142 Champions League games for Real Madrid and then Bundesliga outfit Schalke between 1995 and 2011.

Messi, 27, has currently notched 69 Champions League goals in his 89 appearances in the competition, meaning two goals in Barca's Group B game at Ajax's Amsterdam ArenA on Wednesday night will see him tie the record, having got there in 52 less games.

The Argentina captain's personal rival Ronaldo, 29, is also close to breaking the Champions League record, but the Madrid forward's blank in Madrid's 1-0 win over Liverpool on Tuesday left him stuck on 70 goals in his 107 career appearances in the competition.

Asked in AS if he felt Messi was recovering his best form after a difficult time of late, De Boer suggested it was almost disrespectful to talk like that about a player who had no equal in world football.

"I never saw Messi off-form," he said. "To talk about him people should stand up first. He is unique. There can be replicas of some players, like Cristiano for example. The Portuguese is good, very good, but Messi is simply the best."

Ajax beat Barcelona 2-1 at this stage of the competition last season, although the Catalan side still progressed as group winners. De Boer, whose twin-brother Frank is Ajax's head coach, admitted a repeat of that result was unlikely this time around.

"It is very difficult, but we saw it happen last year," he said. "It was something exceptional. This year Barca will have learned their lesson."

The former Rangers midfielder did however say Ajax's young team would compete better than in the 3-1 defeat at the Camp Nou in their first meeting this year.

"Barca remain a much superior side," De Boer said. "You must recognise that Ajax were very innocent at the Camp Nou in the first half, a bit scared. I believe that at the Arena things will be different, but I do not know if Ajax can do it."

His former Blaugrana teammate Luis Enrique had what it took to overcome his current difficult patch and be a success as Barca coach, De Boer said.

"This is a new project, taking up what [Pep] Guardiola, [Tito] Vilanova and [Gerardo] Martino left behind," he said. "He is a natural born winner and must show that. He, Guardiola and my brother Frank always think about football to try and do new things, which is positive."

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